Climate protesters occupy lobby of insurer based in Manchester

Climate protesters entered and occupied the lobby of Liberty Mutual in Manchester city centre to protest the use of fossil fuels.

The activists, which consisted of local women, protested in the lobby of Lowry House in 17 Marble Street and remained there for several hours.

Employees and passerbys were given leaflets alleging that the insurer was insuring liquified natural gas (LNG) terminals on the US Gulf Coast including Freeport lNG in Texas and Cameron LNG in Louisiana.

In the lobby, the women also alleged that Liberty had not yet ruled out insuring the East Africa Crude Oil Pipeline and read out testimonies from people in Uganda and Tanzania whose lives had already been impacted.

One protester said: “The insurance industry play a key role in making these fossil fuel projects happen. They have the power to make a liveable future for all of us.

”The greenhouse gasses these projects emit will lead to climate breakdown which will mean flooding, heatwaves and food shortages even here in Manchester.”

This comes after members of Extinction Rebellion (XR), Friends of the Earth, Manchester Greenpeace and the Insure Our Survival campaign protested outside the 2025 Biba Conference to demand that the industry stops backing fossil fuel projects.

The protest featured a life-sized model of a ‘sinking’ Lamborghini sports car to highlight the risks of extreme weather caused by climate crisis.

There was also a climate choir, samba drummers, street theatre, synchronised dance and testimonies by people affected by extreme weather.

A spokesperson for the protest said: “Large fossil fuel projects can’t go ahead without insurance. Unlike the oil companies, who publicly deny the science and have no other game they play, insurance companies know the risks of climate inaction and are seeing their entire business model threatened by extreme weather from climate change.

“Biba needs to decide if ‘A New Era’ means floods, fires, heat waves and climate chaos, or one where brokers refuse to cover carbon bomb projects.”